Google Analytics 4 offers marketers plenty of surface-level reports and insights that serve as snapshots. However, pre-built reports can only do so much for your reporting, and that’s where GA4’s Explorations come in handy.

Custom Explorations allow marketers to sift through data and generate a mix of graphs and charts to visualize valuable acquisition, user behavior and conversion data that can reshape marketing strategy with just a few clicks.

GA4 Reports vs. Explorations: What’s the Difference?

Reports and Explorations rely on the same data and offer many of the same filters, metrics and comparisons. GA4 reports are pre-built and include many of the same default reporting categories as Google Universal Analytics’ main navigation menu.

Explorations are more robust and customizable, allowing for the usage of custom metrics and dimensions that you’ve set up in GA4.

More About Reports

Pre-built does not mean useless. Many of these reports include the benchmark KPIs that measure marketing success at organizations of all sizes, including sessions, users and quality metrics like engagement rate and conversions.

Google also added filter features to Reports that are easier to access and toggle on and off, making them more valuable for marketers trying to spot trends and opportunities.

Think of reports as the cookie-cutter option; they’re all the same shape, and you can decorate them a little, but you’ve had a few, they all look and taste the same.

More About Explorations

GA4 Explorations, on the other hand, give marketers a new level of control in shaping site or app data to find hidden trends or behaviors that go deeper than most standard reports.

Why Use Explorations

Explorations allow for more customization, visualization and data manipulation. Marketers can compare dozens of variables at once with just a few clicks, including:

• Standard and custom dimensions.
• Traffic and demographic segments.
• Standard and custom events.
• Key Events (formerly Conversions).

Explorations also allow marketers to filter results by dimension and click on the charts and graphs to automatically “zoom in” on various dimensional breakdowns.

Finally, visualizations are easier to save, export, and share.

The default “Free Form” Exploration in GA4 is the most flexible tool, and Google offers several other Exploration templates for specific insights.

These additional templates are:

• Funnel exploration.
• Path exploration.
• Segment overlap.
• User explorer.
• Cohort exploration
• User lifetime

Each of these templates is worth experimentation, but put our three favorite Explorations at the top of your to-try list …

The Three GA4 Explorations Marketers Should Master

1. Google Analytics 4 Path Exploration

Path exploration in GA4 looks brilliant. This template uses a tree-and-branch graph to help marketers visualize navigation pages, providing useful insight into where users land, what actions they take and where they either convert or bounce.

It’s an incredibly valuable tool for identifying where users get stuck or how they interact on specific pages. Once you know how to use the path exploration, you can build and support page optimization strategies, improve paid landing pages and shorten conversion paths to improve marketing performance.

2. Google Analytics 4 User Explorer

If path exploration is like a bird’s-eye view of a busy highway, the User Explorer tool gives marketers eyes on a specific vehicle – and don’t worry, privacy hawks, you can’t tell who’s behind the wheel.

While path explorations show aggregated data like sessions and users, this tool allows marketers to view historical user data from specific, anonymized user IDs over the past 90 days. With time, marketers can identify user habits from certain channels or along conversion paths.

The most useful way to use User Explorer is to compare similar segments and identify opportunities to improve. For example, compare the conversion rate of weekly users (active within the past seven days) and monthly active users (active within the past 30 days) and ask yourself questions like:

• What different landing pages do weekly users land on that monthly active users don’t?
• Do converting users come back to the same page they landed on?
• What day of the week does each segment convert on, in most cases?

Taking a user-by-user approach provides a granular, personal approach to marketing; you’re putting yourself in the user’s shoes and following their lead. 

3. Google Analytics 4 Funnel Report

The GA4 funnel report is all about conversions. To keep driving on the highway metaphor, funnel reports consider the users’ destination (conversion/Key Event) and point out where all the drivers who didn’t make it turned off the highway.

There are two ways to use the funnel report:

• Pre-built funnels are built on specific conversion events, such as a purchase or form submission. This exploration shows the most common drop-off points along the conversion journey.
• Custom funnels have marketer-defined events and/or pages included in the funnel. This is useful for analyzing user behavior based on specific content categories or unique goals.

Funnel explorations help improve user experience by highlighting pages or functions that negatively impact conversion, potentially due to user experience and accessibility problems. 

Use All Your Tools

Marketers have a lot of tools built into Google Analytics. Path Explorations, User Explorer, and Funnel Explorations are underutilized, offering a reporting and strategic advantage for marketing professionals willing to dive just a bit deeper into site or application data.

It may take a little practice, but once you get the hang of GA4’s Explorations, they’ll be an integral part of your strategy and reporting for good.

The post The Three GA4 Explorations All Marketers Should Know appeared first on SiteProNews.

What is Google Analytics?

Google has provided its users with a vast array of tools to help them maintain their pages. One of them is Google Analytics – you can use it to monitor your website activity and check stats regarding session duration, source of traffic, bounce rate, etc. This tool is free – to some extent. Small businesses can use this tool free of charge. However, the more professional features come with a fee. To start using Google Analytics, make sure you enable it in your Google Admin console. 

How to diagnose traffic drops – take a deep breath and start

There are several steps you can take to get to the bottom of your problem. It’s essential to be realistic and objective and start this process slowly and in detail. Let’s see what things you can do to diagnose traffic drops. 

Drops can happen; just be sure to diagnose them fast and react accordingly. 

PPC traffic or Google organic traffic?

First, don’t jump to the conclusion that you have a problem with organic traffic. That is often not the case – sometimes, drops come from paid traffic. That’s why you should start this diagnostic process by checking– organic traffic or PPC traffic.  Also, don’t forget other traffic sources – direct visits, email, social, etc. Checking them all out may lead to the solution to your problem.

Locate the problematic pages 

If there are one or more pages that have experienced a drop in traffic, the first thing you should do is to find out which one it is. You can easily do that by using Google Analytics. 

Check out the ‘All Traffic’ section and click ‘Channels’. Under the ‘Organic’ section, select the period you want to check and compare it to the previous period. You should be able to see your landing pages and the way they have performed in the last week or month. Commonly, the drop is related to the most popular pages on your website. They should be at the top of the list. However, if the drop has affected all your website pages, it’s a sign of a bigger problem. Perhaps you received a Google Penalty, or you were unaware of a recent update. 

Make sure it’s not a seasonal thing 

Sometimes, some businesses are less popular at certain times of the year. For example, companies that sell Christmas lights or decorations will not get the same amount of traffic during summer. You can determine this based on your previous experience and industry knowledge, but also by using Google Analytics. Just be sure to compare the traffic of the exact weeks/months in two or more years. It will show you if you’re dealing with a seasonal drop or there’s another problem to look for. 

The way your website performs may be affected by trends and seasons. 

Check the users responsible for the drop

Another way to diagnose traffic drops is to take a look at users responsible for the traffic drop. There are two types of people visiting your website – new users and returning users. Let’s look at both: 

New users 

 If fewer new users are coming to the website, the problem is in the way they find it in search results. This is the time to check:

• your keywords –  these are an essential factor in ranking your pages on Google. Sometimes, it is necessary to pick a fresh set of keywords as the market and people visiting the pages change;
• updates – very often, Google comes up with an update that can affect your rankings because the old optimization methods don’t comply with the new update;
• penalties – if a penalty is applied to your website by Google, it will affect the way Google ranks your pages. 

Returning users 

If you notice returning users are not returning anymore, you need to take a closer look at your website user experience.  The most common problems are broken pages and slow loading speed. These may disappoint returning users, forcing them to leave the website and find an alternative destination. Be sure to check all of the factors that help improve the user experience and do your best to bring it to perfection.

Don’t disappoint old and new users – make your website flawless. 

Combine GA with Search Console for complete results 

When you need to diagnose traffic drops and take a closer look at your website, Google Analytics is a great option. However, you should complete this investigation by using some other great tools – one of them being Search Console. Only then can you be sure you have examined all the aspects of your problem to find a fast solution. Google Analytics will help you explore the user-oriented aspects of the traffic. On the other hand, Search Console is more focused on search-engine related issues. It can tell you more about your website’s visibility, SERP presence, keyword problems, etc. Combining two or more tools will give you an in-depth report on your website’s performance and lead you to the most effective solutions to get back on track and welcome many new visitors.

The post Using Google Analytics to diagnose Traffic Drops appeared first on SiteProNews.

It allows you to add various tags or codes to your website. Google Analytics tracking code, Adwords conversion script, Google Analytics event codes are a few examples of Google Tag Manager. 

You can also include custom codes through Google Tag Manager (GTM). If you want to collect more data than you normally do, you should tag your website through GTM with Google Analytics. 

This post will take you deep into the world of Google Tag Manager and help you understand what it is and how you can use it to optimize the online presence of your site. So let’s get started-

What is Google Tag Manager?

GTM is a TMS or tag management system that enables you to quickly and easily update measurement codes and other associated code fragments collectively understood as tags on your site or mobile application.

GTM offers easy, reliable, conveniently integrated tag management solutions for free.

It lets you have full control over how your tags are defined and used. Different tag technology that GTM can manage-

• Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Support
• Asynchronous Tag Loading
• Define Reusable Variables
• Mobile App Support
• Tag Pausing
• Tag Blacklist
• Tag Sequencing

Components of Google Tag Manager

There are mainly two components of GTM: Containers and Triggers. 

• Containers – When you start your work with GTM, the first step is to create a container. The use of a container is to hold the tags that you create for your website. When you are done creating a container, Google Tag Manager will provide you with a certain code. This code is called the ‘container code.’ This code is then added to your website’s source code and will be visible on each page. Some websites need plugins to add a container code, and your web developer will add that for you. Once this is done, you can add, edit, or remove the tags using GTM. 

• Triggers – all the tags that you put on your website have to serve a purpose. For example, if you want a particular tag saying ‘send information’ when someone is downloading a file or when someone is submitting a form, these events which take place are called ‘triggers.’ It is necessary for all the tags to have a trigger or else they are of no use. Triggers are further divided into two components: filters and events. 

• Events – the long list with several types of triggers that appears on your screen when you want to configure a trigger in Google tag manager; that list is called events. Once you have decided your event, you can further choose a filter. 

• Filter – filters have three parts, namely, variables, values, and operators. The operator tells whether the event is greater than, less than, or equal to the tag. The value is a certain condition that has to be met. The value here means a URL or a keyword. 

Reasons to use GTM 

There are several reasons to use the Google tag manager. A few are mentioned below – 

1. Easy implementation of tracking codes

The classic way of tracking codes was when you had to send the codes to the developer, and then the work was taken further. But with GTM, you can easily avoid the developer (in most cases). You can implement these tracking codes all by yourself. Every code you receive is called a ‘tag,’ and these tags can be managed through Google Tag Manager. This speeds up the whole process and adds the tags to your website rapidly. 

2. Enables you to manage all tags in one place

All your tags can be managed in one single place. Earlier, all the tracking codes were scattered in different files. If you wanted to do even a minor change, the developer needed to find these tracking codes and then update them. But with GTM, there is an option called ‘tags,’ and you can find all the tracking codes there. 

3. Lets you easily troubleshoot and correct tag errors

There is an option called ‘Preview and Debug mode’ in GTM. This helps you to find out which tag is active and which is not on your page. This is very important for your tags because it assures you that your tags are working before publishing them. 

4. Comprises Reusable container templates

You can create your reusable container templates in Google Tag manager, i.e., you can easily export all the triggers, tags, and variables into one single file. This feature is mainly important for companies that have to implement Google Analytics all the time. 

5. Offers tag management services for free 

Google Tag Manager is available for free! There is an available premium version, but the free version is good enough for businesses (especially small and medium) 

6. Simple to use

GTM is very flexible and convenient to use. If you make any changes in the container, GTM comes up with a new version. But if you change your mind or make the changes by mistake, you can go to the ‘Versions’ page and restore the previous version easily. 

7. Ensures top-notch security

The security of GTM is well appreciated. It scans the tracking scripts which are added to the Custom HTML, and if any malware is found, it automatically pauses all the activities in the domain, URL, and IP address. You can also control who can access your GTM account. 

8. Lets you control your tag manager installation across live/production websites or apps

Google tag manager provides you with an option called ‘Environments’ that helps you control the tag manager when your website is live. This option helps you to launch your tags in different environments. The other option is called ‘Workspaces’ that lets you and your team members work together on the same Google tag manager container. It does not overwrite the changes that are made by other team members. After every team member is done with the work, all the changes made in the container are later merged. 

9. Highly popular and community benefits

Google is a company known for launching really good products/applications like Google Reader, Google Classrooms. Google tag manager is one of the best launches Google has ever done. The popularity it has gained over time is tremendous, and every day more people are using it. The number of users for GTM – free or paid, is increasing every day. The support for Google tag manager helps people who have some difficulty or are facing some issues. 

These are just a few reasons why you should use Google tag manager and how it is user-friendly software. It makes your work much easier and convenient. Along with these reasons, there are some downsides to GTM as well, so let’s look at those as well-

Cons of Google Tag Manager 

Even though there are a lot of reasons for using GTM, you should be aware of the few cons as well– 

• Although Google tag manager helps reduce reliance on site developers, it does not eliminate the option. Many websites still need a developer for adding the container code on every page of the website. 

• GTM has many tags that are very easy to use and can be used without the help of a developer, but customized and complex tags require someone who understands coding. 

• Tags can sometimes slow a website when used together at the same time. When the tags are activated, if one tag is slow to load, it will slow down all the other tags’ speed. And, if the site takes a long time to load, people will leave, resulting in a decrease of traffic to the website. 

Summing Up!

Using Google Tag Manager is an easy and convenient way to manage a website. It helps you control the tracking codes in one particular place, and you don’t have to look for codes in different folders.

If you are going to get into complexities of running a website, you need to invest time in learning about tags and managing your website so that you receive good site traffic and engagement. 

Using Google tag manager is one of the best decisions you can make because it helps you manage your website on your own and does not usually involve a developer.

You won’t always have to contact a developer to help you with small website issues. Google Tag Manager is a one-stop solution for handling websites and increasing the traffic and engagement on them. 

The post What is Google Tag Manager and Why Your Site Needs It appeared first on SiteProNews.

It may come as a surprise that some of the largest organizations sometimes struggle with CTR and there could be a variety of reasons for this. Perhaps the marketing or content team needs improved leadership, maybe staff is incorporating practices that worked 10 years ago but are ineffective today or maybe some companies simply don’t know how. 

Not to worry, as I’ve listed the top 5 web analytics practices every organization should be practicing and any business can incorporate.  

1. Develop a robust google analytics account

This may seem a bit rudimentary. Doesn’t every business that has a website or runs a campaign use Google Analytics? 

The quick answer might be yes, but the real answer might be closer to the fact that many companies have still not taken full advantage of their Google Analytics account. The platform is straightforward enough to set up in order to check a variety of CTR scores. 

It’s also worth noting that there is a free version of Google Analytics as well as a paid version that’s designated as Google Analytics 360. The free version may be fine for a number of businesses, but Analytics 360 offers much more for those that need it, such as:

• 1 billion + hits per month, where standard Analytics is limited to 10 million per month.
• There are 200 Custom Dimensions/metrics for each account, compared to only 20 in standard Analytics.
• Data is refreshed every 4 hours in Analytics 360, guaranteed, while standard has no timeframe guarantee.
• There is a variety of other advertising data that can be imported into 360, but standard is somewhat limited in this area.
• Custom funnel reports are available in 360 but are not in standard.

The list is much longer than what can be included here, but it’s worth checking out what those differences are between standard Analytics and Analytics 360 to determine if they are important to you or your organization.

To get to your CTR score, simply go to Acquisition, Search Console then Queries. Once there, you will be able to see which search queries were responsible for bringing visitors to your website. 

In addition, you’ll see the queries’ clicks, impressions, CTR and the average search position. You can then compare which pages performed better than others and drill down deeper with additional analysis.

2. Determine performance of keywords and headlines 

It’s one thing to have a relatively high ranking in Google or a large database that receives regular communication from your company. It’s a completely different thing to have search engine visitors or campaign recipients clicking on your keywords or headlines. 

Among the most important drivers of having high volume flow through your keywords or campaigns is the use of an exceptional headline. Although Google Analytics won’t necessarily tell you which headline you should use per se, you can test several different headlines and see how each performs in Analytics. 

In addition, there are tools such as CoSchedule Headline Analyzer and Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer that will help you find the best headline. Starting with better headlines and keywords before a comparative analysis in Analytics will get you that much closer to maximizing them and ultimately improving your CTR.

3. Leverage social media analytics

While Google Analytics is a very powerful tool when used properly, marketers must also remember that most social media platforms offer their own analytics tools. Using analytics tools offered by Facebook and LinkedIn, just to name two, can and should be used in conjunction with Google Analytics. 

Facebook, for example, will provide cost data associated with your campaigns. Not only can this be viewed in Facebook, that data can be imported into Analytics to derive greater insight around site visitor behavior and CTR for certain campaigns. 

Even without the Facebook campaign data import, Analytics still offers fairly insightful social media data. The additional data import simply makes it that much more robust and meaningful, and provides a 360 degree analysis of your true CTR.

4. Use Google AdWords to enhance organic SEO and CTR

Getting high rankings on Google, along with high CTR, is the holy grail of any SEO strategy. While marketers have been leveraging Google AdWords to enhance organic SEO, the same can be done to help improve CTR. 

Testing different keywords, titles and metadata via Google Ads campaigns – and analyzing the data in Google Analytics – can help you configure a more effective organic SEO strategy. Testing how headline and keyword combinations work in Google Ads can, in essence, speed up your analytics timetable. 

This can be incorporated for blogs, lead generation campaigns such as eBook landing pages, eNewsletters, promotions and special offers. There are no real limits here, with the exception of your marketing budget.

5. Identify lagging pages and campaigns to make them top performing

All websites feature pages that are top performing in terms of traffic draw, click through and length of engagement. Some digital marketing campaigns perform better than others. 

Alternatively, there are also those pages and campaigns that are the bottom performers. Those poorly performing efforts should be transformed by incorporating those elements that make top-performing endeavors more popular. The culprits that contribute to poor performing pages and campaigns include underwhelming content, unimaginative headlines and poor keywords. 

Analyzing the performance data and replacing poor information with more effective information is critically important. When it comes to Google Analytics and analytics from other channels such as social media, numbers don’t lie. 

Takeaway

Increasing your website and campaign CTR is a necessary component to having a high ranking site that leads to warmer leads, generates more sales and enhances the overall customer journey. The logic is relatively simple; if no one is clicking on your content then no one is interested in the content being offered. Incorporating web analytics best practices and following the data can help change that.

The post The Top 5 Ways Web Analytics Can Help Improve CTR appeared first on SiteProNews.

There are many reasons why e-commerce sites fail to become viable commercial ventures. While the most obvious, of course, includes establishing an e-commerce site in an over-saturated niche and failing to build a customer base that is sufficient for the website, there are other shortcomings that are specific to factors that are within the pages of the e-commerce website.

Google Analytics is a vital tool that helps in identifying these internal factors responsible for the poor performance of an e-commerce website. It basically functions by gathering data on your site’s activities, including pertinent details about every one of the site’s visitors, with the main objective being to evaluate the site’s performance and optimize it if it turns out to be lacking in any manner whatsoever.

Before the data tendered by the much revered Analytics tool can be used to improve the conversion rate of an e-commerce website, it must first be accurately interpreted in order to identify the area or section of the site that is flawed and hindering commercial activities. It is simply wise to be armed with the right information before attempting to proffer a solution because it makes certain that the source of the issue is targeted when the optimization process is being implemented.

Interpreting the content of a Google Analytics report can be very tricky especially if you aren’t familiar with certain web traffic terminologies; the elaborated tips below will, however, help you understand what each site-traffic metric entails and how it affects your e-commerce website.

Google Analytics’ Key Metrics

Website KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are among reliable metrics that are made available by the Google Analytics tool. They basically provide information that can be assessed to grade the performance of the site in terms of productivity and the achievement of set targets. 

The information that is retrieved from the data breaks down every component of the e-commerce website and utilizes both graphical and numerical descriptions to rate the performance of each component.

Some metrics that are used as a measure of a website’s performance are:

Pageviews 

This is a wholesome metric that attempts to measure the amount of traffic a website receives. If you wish to have an idea of the number of pages in your e-commerce website that receive regular visits or want to confirm the number of visits each page receives, then Pageviews’ figures are important data that must be studied.

Pageviews is among the measures used to confirm the efficacy of a digital marketing strategy, most importantly as it pertains to SEO implementation. For example, an off-page SEO campaign that includes guest post outreach, link building, and other white-hat methods can only be regarded as successful if the Pageviews’ figures suggest a substantial increase in the number of visits since the commencement of the SEO campaign.

Most often times, lackluster Pageviews’ figures can be solely attributed to flaws that aren’t concerned with the composition and configuration of the e-commerce website i.e., it is often as a result of a failed digital marketing effort.

The metric, however, ensures that the website owner is aware of the estimated number of visits that it receives within a given timeframe.

Product Performance

Knowing how well each product in your e-commerce store is performing is critical to the success of the venture since it allows you to create a marketing strategy that will be uniform and adequately addresses any issue that may arise.

This metric makes it possible for you to identify the products in your online store that are doing great as well as those that aren’t performing too well. The information curated from the data can be used to identify the cause of a product’s poor performance, which is then incorporated into a digital marketing strategy in order boost sales.

Checkout Behavior

The Checkout page is perhaps the most important part of an e-commerce website since it is the page that is instrumental to the completion of the commercial process. 

It is, thus, important that you regularly have access to information that details the checkout behavior of all visitors to your online store. This information is critical as it is used to calculate the conversion rate of the e-commerce store and, hence, gauge its performance.

Studying the behavioral pattern of customers that make it to the checkout page and understanding why they cancel orders — if at all they do — make certain that you are able recognize any possible flaw in the page that may be hindering the checkout process.

If the issue with the checkout process is a design flaw or functional defect, then you can hire a freelance web design or programming expert to rectify the error and optimize the page in order to improve your site’s conversion rate.

Sales Performance

It isn’t enough to only have information that represents the amount of traffic garnered by your e-commerce platform as it doesn’t really do much and fails to describe the financial status of the site. It is the revenue you make, however, that really matters and not the number of web users navigating through the pages of your online store.  

The information contained in a Sales Performance report keeps you abreast with important financial stats like your business’ total revenue, tax fees as well as shipping figures, and even the amount expended on executing refunds to customers.

This is basically a metric that measures the financial health of your website, and if the figures do not correlate with those of traffic metrics, then it simply means that your site’s conversion rate is meager.

The figures and illustrations provided by Google Analytics are only as useful and effective as the quality of their interpretation, and failure to properly interpret the retrieved data may jeopardize the commercial viability of your e-commerce site.

The post How to Accurately Interpret Google Analytics Data for an E-commerce Site appeared first on SiteProNews.